The movement of the National Maternity Hospital to Elm Park in Donnybrook has been delayed because the St Vincent's Healthcare Group, owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity, are demanding more control.

SVHG won't allow plans for the relocated hospital to be sent in until the NMH agrees to come under its governance.

This would involve dissolving the NMH as an independent body.

The hospital, which is currently on Holles Street in Dublin 2, is the biggest of its kind in Ireland.

The NMH describe their present location as as "antiquated, undersized and unsuitable for modern obstetric and neonatal practice", Independent.ie reports.

The maternity hospital says that the suggested governance plans set out by the SVHG will put all services in the hands of the Religious Sisters of Charity.

As well as childbirth, this includes contraception, sterilisation, gender reassignment surgery and IVF treatment.

In a statement last night, the NMH said that this transfer of power would create "unacceptable clinical risk".

A spokesperson for the SVHG said that it can't operate the merged campus within "competing systems" of governance.

They claimed that their medical services are run according to Irish law and are not affected by the views of the Sisters of Charity.